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The Mehri Language of Oman

This volume contains a detailed grammatical description of the Omani dialect of Mehri, an unwritten Semitic language of the Modern South Arabian group. It is the first complete grammar of any Modern South Arabian language in a hundred years, and the first ever Mehri grammar based on the Omani dialect, making it an important contribution to the field of Semitic studies in general. Topics in phonology, all aspects of morphology, and a variety of syntactic features are covered in this volume. The grammar is based on texts collected by T.M. Johnstone, and published by H. Stroomer.

Biographical note

Aaron D. Rubin, Ph.D. (2004) Harvard University, is an Associate Professor at Penn State University. He has published widely on the Semitic languages, including two previous books, as well as numerous articles and book chapters.

Readership

This book will be of value to all those interested in the languages and peoples of Arabia, to those working in comparative Semitic linguistics, and to general linguists.

Reviews

Overall, this volume is a solid description of Omani Mehri morphology for semiticists, which goes beyond Johnstone’s (1987) original description. Hopefully this publication will lead to more interest in the endangered South Arabian languages and provide a springboard for further documentation and preservation efforts as well as work on the influence of Arabic on Mehri and other South Arabian languages.

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